HOUSE FUNDS RESEARCH ON AFTERMATH OF METH-MAKING

WASHINGTON -- If you're moving to a house or an apartment in
Missouri, your new place is more likely to have been a former
methamphetamine lab than in any other state, federal officials say.

That's no big deal if it has been properly cleaned up, which involves
removing meth residue. But lack of information on potential dangers
and cleanup led the House of Representatives on Wednesday to
authorize funding of federal research on the aftermath of meth-making.

In Missouri no guidelines exist for the remediation of defunct labs,
unlike in several other states. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, a
co-sponsor of the legislation, said the issue has been overlooked for too long.

"As my district lies in the state leading the nation in meth
incidents, I have seen firsthand the harmful and wide-reaching
effects of the substance," Carnahan said.

He said he supported the legislation with three groups in mind: the
children of meth users and producers, first responders whose jobs
send them to meth labs on a regular basis and people who rent houses
where labs have existed in the past.

Tom Murphy, an agent for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
in St. Louis, noted the number of meth lab busts in Missouri has
surpassed every other state since 2002. The number of labs plummeted
by nearly half between 2005 and 2006, from 2,176 to 1,268. But
Missouri still tops the list.

Only one study has been conducted into the potential effects of meth
residue. Michael Van Dyke, a researcher with the National Jewish
Medical and Research Center, said that study sent him on police raids
of meth houses at any hour of the day or night -- houses where
officers often led children to squad cars along with the suspected
lab operators.

Inside the homes, Van Dyke said researchers sometimes found meth
residue covering everything, especially porous surface such as
carpets, a dog's coat and childrens' stuffed toys.

"Some of the things we saw, the houses were just a mess," Van Dyke
said. "It was really disheartening to think that children are living
in these environments."

The center's work initially encompassed only the effects of meth
exposure on first responders. As the focus expanded, the center
conducted controlled "cooks" with DEA agents acting as "chefs" to
determine the extent and longevity of harmful chemicals in
residences. They found meth residue in houses where evidence
suggested the last cook had occurred a week earlier, he said.

Sgt. Jason Grellner, commander of the Franklin County Narcotics
Enforcement Unit, endorsed the legislation.

Currently property owners will turn to cleanup crews who normally
deal with fire and flood damage, Grellner said. While those crews do
clean the house, there is no standard for procedure or levels of
decontamination.

"It's been haphazard because people will clean these properties to
their own specifications, some doing a very good job and others not,"
Grellner said.